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Amusement park riders stranded at 300 feet

Posted at 8:03 AM, Sep 20, 2012
and last updated 2012-09-20 08:04:14-04

(CNN) — An amusement park ride in California broke down Wednesday afternoon, stranding its passengers 300 feet in the air, a police spokesman said.

About 20 people were on the ride at Knotts Berry Farm, Cpl. Andy Luong of the Buena Park Police Department said. First reports of the situation came in to authorities about 4:45 p.m. (7:45 p.m. ET). The riders were still stranded two hours later.

The WindSeeker also malfunctioned on September 7, CNN affiliate KABC reported.

According to the amusement park’s website, the ride has 32 two-person gondolas, which allow riders to dangle their legs, attached to metal arms, which spread out once the riders gets to 301 feet.

Passengers travel eight times in a circle for one minute.

“Due to the long airtime, riders will experience a spectacular sense of weightlessness,” the website claims.

KABC reported that when the ride broke nearly two weeks ago park crews manually lowered the gondolas over the course of a couple hours.

The WindSeeker was designed and built by a Dutch company, Mondial.